Chapter 14
In which the A-Team is assembled. I pity the fool who messes with them!
TAMASHII
A couple of hours later, my friends showed up. With them present, we made a decision who would stay to watch after Ambrosia, and who were going to leave in order to find the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. Sapphire stayed with Ambrosia, explaining that her powers were for healing, and she wanted to stay in case things go worse.
Of the original team, obviously Ambrosia couldn't go. As for the others, well... Michael said, "Let the younger generation handle this. I am certain there won't be too much danger." Aqorm similarly refused, explaining that she now had ties to the elves, having been made a full elf. "I kinda sorta also have to work to pay them off for the surgery," she mumbled. Lilith simply said, "Don't wanna." Azrael and Zoe were kissing and cuddling over in a corner, and then walked off into a nearby storage house. Unfortunately for me, I was more savvy than most nine year olds, having witnessed my own parents go at it loudly in my own house. That kind of mental image stays with you, so yes, I knew what those two were up to. "Personally, I'd like to watch to see if Ambrosia dies," Yazim Jianne said. Oh stop denying it, you big softie! I know you secretly care about her. At least, I think you do? Anyway, Selqui and Yazim Jianne were joined at the hip, so I didn't even need to ask. That just left Elias, "Ambrosia being left with the likes of Lilith and Yazim Jianne? Someone has to make sure that that they don't try anything. Besides, I have research to tend to."
Nevras agreed to supervise the trip, "It looks like Portia, Sastraneth, and Tamashii are going, so we need a responsible adult." Lucy also spoke up, "If you're going, I'm going too!" Noting his shocked stare, she said, "What? I can be responsible too! Besides, Ambrosia can't be here, so I'm gonna make sure that you don't wind up lonely." With that, the five of us boarded the ship. I wasn't hopeful.
RENA
Jesus invited me as his disciple. He gave me the name Judas Iscariot, a boy's name, telling me that many would persecute his followers, and that for the time being disguising my real name and gender, as well as the town I from would help me stay free from harm. It worked, while many of the human followers died a martyr's death, I was able to fake my death and stay alive for awhile. I gradually understood his teachings, and taught them to others. The town that he picked could have been better though. Iscariot referred to a town mostly populated historically by the Amorites. I was not his only follower though.
Jesus was walking past John the Baptist, an extremely zealous Hebrew who wore camel hair jackets to show that the Jews around him had betrayed their traditions. He was teaching people, baptizing with water, and condemning the religious leaders of his day when two of his followers were with them. When Jesus walked nearby, he pointed Jesus out, naming him as the "Lamb of God." Now these two followers appeared as two generic looking men, but they were under a Glamour. In those days, hybrids were no different from regular humans and had no magic of their own, but one of them was not a hybrid but an angel. The one Jesus called Andrew was an elf girl named Aellisa, and the angel named Peniel was later called Phillip by Jesus. In addition to be a follower of John, "Andrew" was also a fisher by trade and worked with another hybrid, a girl named Autumntwig. These two were called brothers as a joke, because they tended to be very close, and were both very tomboyish. Back then, there weren't many opportunities for women who were hybrids to be married, so they wound up working rough jobs. Which helps explain why two other "brothers", a mermaid named Marina and a dryad named Arboria were also working the boats. These four were absolute outcasts, only managing to scrape by because of the fish they caught. But that life was swiftly coming to an end. Aellisa (Andrew) was telling Autumntwig about Jesus, but she had no interest. During a long fishing trip with the four of them, nothing was caught. They were going to be ruined, a group of penniless hybrids having gotten over the symptoms of their genetic alterations only to die on the streets. Then Jesus showed up by the coast. He got aboard the ship, and asked the two to go out again, this time slightly further. Autumntwig protested. Firstly, Jesus was clearly a rabbi, and as such, it was considered forbidden for him to be near unclean people like them. Second, she had been out all night with the others and had caught nothing. The best catches were typically done at night, so if the schools of fish were nowhere to be found then, it was impossible. But she did as he said. The nets swelled up with two boatloads full of fish, and they had trouble making it back.
While all this went on, I was wearing from the shore, wearing a long dress and had a wig to cover my natural hair and my fox ears. My tails were tucked under the dress and were fortunately just short enough to pull this off. Otherwise, I would have had to wear some kind of hooded cloak. My current outfit was conspicuous enough on a beach like this, but as Jesus not widely known, nobody thought some strange woman on the beach was connected to him. The wig I was wearing was called a sheitel, they were a more recent addition to Jewish law. The old ways of the Hebrews were getting bogged down by all these new rabbinical customs, but it was a fortunate thing. Jesus could just walk into the store and tell the owner, "I am buying a wig for a woman who is dear to me," and nobody thought to ask whether it was actually for his wife or to preserve the modesty of a foxgirl hybrid, who nobody before that thought to even ask if I had any modesty. I don't have much though. Originally I had long black hair, but it turned white when I was infused with white fox genes, but now the wig I wore made me feel like myself again. It was a nice gift. Later I would learn to braid my hair and tuck it neatly under a yarmulke, bind my breasts with cloth, and dress as a boy. But for now, this is what I wore. I was too far away to see how they caught the fish, but I saw them haul it back. Jesus named Marina as James and Arboria was now John, the "sons" of thunder, as back then they were always arguing. He waited until later to call Autumntwig the name Peter. As for the catch, they walked away from it when he offered them discipleship. Their father-figure Zebedee took care of their debts.
We then found out that a dwarven winemaker in Cana named Umber who Jesus named Thomas. There was a wedding feast going on, and they had run out of wine, since many unexpected guests came. Instead of being shamed for his underpreparation though, Jesus turned the water into wine, allowing Thomas to save his reputation.
Then there was a female elf named Sa'asha who had been drafted as a stonemason to build not-so-great structures. While elves were known as fine artisans by future generations, Sa'asha was not valued for her work. They set her to work building a cesspit, nothing of any great value. But Jesus showed how to make a simple toilet instead, and helped with the carpentry of making a door so people could actually get some privacy when they did their business. In any case, this so astonished the elf who Jesus named Thaddeus that she dropped everything like the others.
AQORM
One time my parents showed me a family tree. Since elves have very long lifespans (to the point that there are rumors that they can't die of old age), and because the window that they can have children is smaller, their family trees tend to be less dense when compared to humans. So it was easy to spot both Aellisa and Sa'asha in my maternal and paternal ancestry. The lines finally merged with my parents. Before I saw that, and hear the explanation, I always thought there was something impure about my blood that made me a half-elf. But my bloodline dated back to two elf bloodlines that were both part of this historic and religious event.
RENA
Philip also found a follower for Jesus. There was an architect named Nathanael responsible for a great structure, but although he had good plans, he was cursed with incompetent workers. The failure of the structure was blamed on this man, and he was fired. He spent the rest of the day bemoaning his fortune under a fig tree, asking God why it seemed he had turned his back on him. The Philip came and told him of Jesus of Nazareth. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" he scoffed. Philip told him to go see anyway, and Jesus referenced how honest he was, which freaked him out that he seemed so familiar. But Jesus gained him as a follower when he explained that he had seen him under the fig tree.
Jesus also met a temple singer named James (Jesus only called him James the Lesser, because there was already a James). He was leading the singing for Sabbath, in the middle of a song called Ashira l'Adonai, when Jesus created an uproar be translation his song into all existing languages. The Jews of the time were of the opinion that such songs shouldn't be sung in any language but Hebrew, ignoring the miracle that he was able to speak such languages.
Then there was Matthew, a tax collector for the enemies of the Jews. During the height of the tax season, Jesus suddenly told him to "Come and follow," and he dropped everything. This caused another uproar, but eventually they were able to find someone new to tax people.
Lastly, while I wasn't watching, Jesus met a demon who I later discovered was Lilith's ancestor. But of course, her entire family got killed because she had a soul, a threat to order in Hell. I don't honestly know what happened between Jesus and the one he called Simon, but it seemed like he was one of the Zealots, a group of Hebrew people who were deeply nationalistic and dedicated to trying to set their nation free.
Soon all of his twelve disciples were gathered. Jesus had plenty of other followers, but we were special. He sent us out, two by two, to be representatives of him. He told us that we were to take no extra belongings, not a staff, nor an extra cloak, nor even a bag of money. We were to spread a message of forgiveness and acceptance. This isn't to be confused with the wishy-washy message that "I'm okay and you're okay" but rather the teaching that all of us are in fact sinners, but we have nothing to fear in this life because God didn't come to forgive us but to die for us. But at the time, we literally had only the vaguest idea of what to preach to the people. Just that most of us were people who didn't belong, and Jesus had in practically every case shown us how our way didn't work but Jesus had loved us anyway. In addition to that rather unclear message, Jesus gave us power. And not just us. The racial abilities of the hybrids had begun to sprout forth, not just among the disciples but even among elves or the like living in scattered regions in the outskirts. It wasn't like all mermaids or gnomes had such powers though, it was like God scattered seeds, and some grew and some didn't. It wasn't just racial abilities though, the powers of thaumaturgy came to humans.
I traveled with Simon the Zealot, and we wound up healing people. The blind, the mute, and the lame seemed to be our typical targets. And lepers. I noticed him getting uncomfortable, which seemed unthinkable for a demon. I guessed, and decided that it must have something to do with how demons disguised themselves. If they were possessing someone, their demonic energy eventually decayed the flesh of whoever they were possessing. Yeah, that must be it.
